Bass

Okay, so I enjoy music. A lot. It's the only thing that keeps me sane in this world. We all know you need some sort of instrument to make music, from guitars, to some sort of horn, to even just a computer. But what most people seem to miss, or don't appreciate, is the bass. Without bass, there would be no music. Without bass there would be no place to start. It would be empty sounding, incomplete, and jagged.

I play the bass guitar, along with keyboard, and I even play a trumpet. But enough with "the way of music" and let's focus more on the bass, preferably, the bass guitar. A bass guitar looks like a regular guitar except larger in both length and usually width. The neck reaches out farther to get lower tones that the guitar would never even dream to achieve. Although most basses have only four or five strings, you can get extremely creative with how you play. This is called style. Some people prefer using a pick, others their fingers. You can slap the bass, which is basically pulling or lifting one of the strings up and smacking it against the actual bass, and at the same time hitting another string with your thumb. (Usually the lower or higher octave of the slapped string.) An octave is really just the lower or higher "version" of a note. To most people it comes naturally. Say you are signing to a song you enjoy, and you can't seem to get that high or low note, naturally you would go to the higher or lower octave that your voice can reach.

Holy crap wall of text. Anyway, I enjoy playing the bass. I use my fingers, because not only does it feel more "bass like" but it also gains a much different tone, and enables me to do a lot more than what I could if I used a pick. When playing with your fingers, you usually use your pointer finger and your middle finger and use a upward brushing motion against the string. At first it might seem extremely hard to get to some of the speeds that you hear in some bands, chances are they are using a pick, unless it's Geddy Lee or Les Claypool or something. But in time, you will be able to reach those speeds in a matter of weeks, maybe if you are a natural, a couple of days. I agree, with a pick you are able to reach those speeds a lot faster and a lot easier. But I leave the pick and the fastness to the guitarists. I'll keep on going along with style and complexity, rather than speed.

So in the end, it's kind of a trade off. Either you want speed, or you want style. I want a little bit of both, so I practice every day. As with you, me, or anyone else, in time you will be able to play and do whatever you want with that instrument, whether it's a bass, a trumpet, or anything.